The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1887-08-18
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Homily On Insurance, Life, Fire
and Eternal.
The Christian FstRcIplcS Involved he.
sPonsihiiiiN Resting Upon nsur-
Hnce Co.npanics Mans Duty
to Ills Family.


Christian Principles Involved" His text
was:
Let HIM appoint officers over the land anC
take mp the ifth part NJ the land Of Egypt ia
the seven plontcouS wears. -GenesiS xii, ~
These were the words of Joseph, tn,
president NJ the first life insurance com.
panv that the world ever saw, Pharaoh
had dream that distracted him. HJ
thought he >tool ou the banks Of the river
Nile, and saw coming MP out Of the river
seven fat, sleek. glossy cows, and they
began To browse in the thick grass. Moth
ing frightful about that. But after them,
coming ont Of the same river. he saw seven
cows that We're Eaunt aud starved
and the worst looking COWS that had ever
been seen IN the land, aud in the fcrOctv
OF hunger they devoUred their seven fat
predecessors. Pharaoh, the King. sent ful
Joseph tn dcCipher these midnight hero
glyphic>. Joseph made short work Of it.
ndintimated that the seven COW that came
out Of the river are seven wears with plenty
to eat, the seven emaciated cows that fcI.
lowed them ara seven wears with nothing
10 eat.
Wow" said Joseph, "let US take one.
fifth Of the corn crop II the seven prosper
Gus years. and keep i a provision for
the seven wears in whj"h there shall he no
corn crop"
The King 'vuA tina counsel and appointed
Joseph. because Of hi integrity and pub
liC-Spiritedne~S, IL the president Of the un-
dertaking. Tn" farmers paid one fifth Of
their income aS a premium. In all the
towns and cities Of the land there were
branch houses This great Egyptian
life insurance company had millions of
dollars as assets. After awhile the dark
days came, and the whole nation would
have starved il il had not been for the pro-
visions they had made for the future. But
nov these suffering families had nothing
to do but to 20 up and collect the amount
of their policies, The Bible puts it in one
short phrase:
In all the land OF Egypt there was bread.
] say this was the first lite insurance
company. II was divinely organized. 1t
had in IT all the advantages Of the "whole
life plan, of the ''tontine plan" of the
reserved endowment PLAN" and all the
other good plans, We are told that Rev.
DR.. Animate, of Lincoln shire. England. ,origi-
mated the first life insurance company in
1b!S No II is a old as the corn-cribs Of
Egypt, and God himself was the author
and originator. If that were not so
would not take Your time'and mine in Sab
bath discussion of this subject, feel it is
theme vital, religions and Of infinite i'm.
port, the morals of life and fire insurance.
About ten or twelve wears ago there was
great panic in life insurance, which did
good. Under the storm the untruSt Orthy
and bogus institutions were scattered,
while the genuine were tested and firmly
established, and where does the life insur-
ance institution stand TODAY What
amount of comfort. of education, OF moral
and spiritual advantage is represented in
the simple statistic that in this country the
life insurance companies in one wear paid
S1,0m,0O0 to the families of the bereft: and
in five years they paid S300,n09o00 to the
families OF the hefeft; and are promising
TO pay-and hold Themselves in readiness
to pav-S2 ,n0 100000 to the families of the
bereft
They ha9e actually paid out more in
dividends and death claims than they
have ever received in premiums. | know
of what | speak. The life insurance com
panies of this country paid more than So
000000 of taxes to the Government in five
years. so. instead of these companies be-
ing indebted TO the land, the land is in
debted TO them. To cry out against life
insurance because here and there one
company ma, behaved badly is as absurd
as it would be Tor man to burn down
1000 acres of havcSf field in order to kill
the mOles and potato bugS-aS prepoSter-
Gus "a a man who should blow up a crowd
ed steamer in mid-Atlantic for the purpose
of destroying the harnacles on the bottom
of the hulk.
But what does the Bible say in regard 70
this subject: If the Bible favors the insti-
tuition, | viii favor it; if the Bible de-
nounces il, will denOunce il. In add
ton TO the forecast Of Joseph in the text
| call your attention to Paul's com
pariSon. Here is one man who, through
neglect, fails to support his family while
he lives. or after he dies. Here is another
man who ahhor IT, Scriptures and rejects
God. Which of those men is the worse:
Well, You say, the latter Paul says the
former. Paul says that man who neg
lectS to care for his household i, more OBJ
noxious than man VIII" rei ectS the Script.
ures.
He that provldelh not FOR his own, and espe
cIally those OF his own household j. worse than
an intidcl.
Life insurance companies help most of us
to provide for our families after we are
gone; but, if we have the money to pay the
premiums and do not pay them, We have
no right to expect mercy at the hand Of
God in the Judgment We are worse than
Tom Paine, worse than Noltaire, and worse
than Shaftesbury. The Bible declares it
we are worse than infidel.
After the certificate of death has been
made out, and thirty or sixty DAYS have
passed, and the officer Of a life insurance
company comes into the bereft household,
and paws down the hard cash on an inSur
ance policy, that officer of the company is
performing positively religious rite, &C.
cOrding to the Apostle James, who says:
True religion and undefled before God and the
Father is this: To visit the fatherless and the
widow in their aff1ictio9.
The religion of Christ proposes to take
care of the temporal wants of the people
as well rs the spiritual. When Hezekiah
was dying the injunction came TO him:
Sc, Thy house III ordcr, tor ,hou shalt die and
not live
That IN action in our day would mean:
MAKE your wills: settle up your ac-
counts; make things plain: don't deceive
your heirs with rolls Of worthless mining
stuCE: don't deceive them with deeds Of
Western lads that will never yield any
crop but chills and fevers; don't leave for
them notes that have been outlawed, and
second mortgages on property that will
not pay the rent"
''Set thy house in order"
That is, fix no things, so that your going
out OF the world NAV make as little con-
sternaton As possible. See the lean cattle
devouring the tat cattle, and in the time of
. I,,t ,f,